Expanded-sheet-metal lath.



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. ma "a; .l it its FRED U. AREY, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

EXPANDED-SI-IEET-METAL LATE.

ilglti ddtyh To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED C. AREY, aciti zen of the United States, residing at Oak Park, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful 1mprovement in Expanded-Sheet-Metal Laths, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make anduse the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specilication, p

In expanded metal laths the maximum solid surface that can be obtained is equal to the area of the original sheet or strip from which the lath is made; but in order that the lath shall present this maximum surface of metal, itis necessary that all of the strands or other pieces forming the expanded sheet have their flat faces either in the plane of the sheet or in a. plane parallel thereto. However. the exigencies of manufacture and the desire to secure as much stitfness as possible have heretofore led to the placing of the strands or other pieces of the expanded material, or some of them, so that their flat sides lie at an angle to the plane of the sheet; thus greatly reducing the area 01": the exposed metallic surface and, by leaving larger open spaces for the plaster to pass through, increasing the amount of plaster necessary to cover a wall.

The object of my invention is to produce an expanded metal lath which shall have all of the advantagesof the best present types as to size and stiliness for a given weight of material and shall at the same time present a maximum metal surface.

A further object of my invention is to produce a simple and novel process for manufacturing my improved product.

lThe various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter he pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,'for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, where- Figure 1 is a plan view of a fragment of a strip which has been slitted preparatory to expanding it in accordance with my invention ;-ldig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 show Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec 2%,

Application filed. October 13, 1913. Serial No. 794,788.

ing the strip expanded; and Fig. 3 is an edge view of the finished lath.

in carrying out my invention, I slit metal strip along parallel lines in such a way as to form a series of rows of slits, each row containing a plurality of: slits separated from each other at their ends by unslitted portions; the rows being arranged in pairs with the corresponding slits and solid portions arranged directly opposite each other and the slits in each pair of rows being staggered with respect to the slits in the adjacent pairs; the arrangement being preferably such that the slits are all of the same length and the unslitted portions in each pair of rows lie midway between the ends of the slits in the adjacent pairs of rows. .'lhus in Fig. 1, 1 represents the sheet as a whole, 2 represent the slits of one series of pairs of rows and 3, 3 represent the slits of the other series of pairs of rows. Slitting the sheet in this way causes it to be cut up into a series cl long narrow strands, l, of equal length, separated from each other by short strands, 5, having less than half the length of the long strands, the short strands at opposite ends of each long strand, on both sides oi the long strand, being separated by unslitted portions lying midway between the ends of the long strand.

After the sheet has been slit in the manner described it is stretched transversely of the slits so as to rearrange the short strands, 5, into connected diamond-shaped figures each of which has one of the long strands for a diagonal. The expanding ot' the sheet comprises a bending operation as distinguished from a stretching operation. That is, each strand is simply bent at an angle to the position it occupied in the unexpanded sheet instead of being bent and stretched.

Consequently since in the unexpanded sheet two short strands with the unslitted portion between them were equal in length to an adjacent long strand, the bending of these two short -strands at an angle to each other brings their extreme ends nearer to each other and makes it necessary in some way to shorten the corresponding long strand. In accordance with my invention, the long strands are bowed so as to project laterally from one side of the sheet and thus bring their ends closer together when the\ sheet is expanded.

By simply bending the short strands Without stretching or twisting them, their flat sides remain in the plane of the Sheet and similarly, by simply bowing the long strands, the flat sides of the long strands are parallel with the plane of the sheet; so that in the expanded sheet the metal surface is at the same area as in the unexpanded sheet and it will require less plaster to cover the sheet than where the strands or some of them are turned on edge. I urthermore,the bowing of the long strands produces a series of trusses along one side of the sheet and thus gives it stiffness and rigidity.

I claim:

1. An expanded metal sheet made up of strands forming a diamond-mesh and other strands forming diagonals of the diamonds and bowed out of the plane of the sheet, the length of each diagonal being one-half of the combined lengths of the strands forming the corresponding diamond.

2. An expanded metal sheet made up of strands forming a flat diamond-mesh and other strands forming diagonals of the diamonds and bowed out of the plane of the sheet, the body portions of the strands being of unstretched metal.

3. An expanded metal sheet made up of strands forming a fiat diamond-mesh and other strands forming diagonals of the diamonds and bowed out of the plane "of the sheet, the metal of the first mentioned strands occupying the same relation to the plane of the sheet as in the original unexpanded sheet, and elements of the bowed surfaces of the other strands extending at right angles to the len th of said strands being parallel to said plane. 1

41-. An expanded metal sheet made up of strands forming a polygonal-mesh and other strands forming diagonals of the polygons and bowed out of the plane of the sheet.

5. An expanded metal sheet made up of strands forming a fiat polygonal-mesh and other strands forming diagonals of the polygons and bowed out of the plane of the sheet, each of the latter strands being equal in length to the combined lengths of those of the aforesaid strands with which it forms a closed figure.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

FRED G. AREY.

Witnesses \VM. F. FnnUnnNRnIc H, RUTH E. ZETTERVALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

